BGBC Lawsuit Archive (Julie Anne’s lawsuit)

* * * * * * *

~ A Letter from the Author ~

A friend asked me recently why I invested myself in putting together such an extensive archive about the BGBC defamation lawsuit. The short answer is, because I wanted to and because I sensed the leading of the Holy Spirit to do it.

The more involved answer is, because (1) I “needed” to. This case was a puzzle to me, and I do my best thinking when there are puzzles to solve and questions to be answered. And there seemed to be so many inconsistencies between the actual in-court case versus contentions in outside-of-court materials and statements. A lot of things just weren’t adding up. So, I felt driven to figure it out, as best I could.

Also, it was because (2) I am a historian – not in the usual sense, though. Actually, I am a trained futurist … trying to understand the past and present for what lessons they hold for the shaping of things to come. And I had a gut-level feeling from my previous five years of writing about recovery from spiritual abuse, that something important was emerging for the futures of the “spiritual abuse survivors movement” and the Church in the U.S. To understand significance, I had to work my way from facts and observations, to analysis and interpretation.

It’s hard to study history-in-the-making, considering various factors as they unfold in “real time.” It is even harder to interpret events and discern their significance if you’re actually watching them emerge. But, as a trained futurist, I see this necessary “gestalting” process as part of being “an archaeologist of the present.” We try to figure out what fits where, and why these here-and-now events are important, and to do all that before the dust even settles!

So, I just naturally followed where my investigative reporter instincts took me. I connected with Julie Anne Smith in March 2012, and thus have been following the BGBC defamation lawsuit almost from the beginning. In fact, I figure that I spent a minimum of 300 hours over the past 12 months between keeping up with the lawsuit, reading related court documents and websites and comments, reflecting on all this material, and writing about it.

After months of absorbing and considering and reflecting on as much as I could from both plaintiffs and defendants in this case, I finally felt ready to move beyond observations and impressions to firm up some initial conclusions. The result is this BGBC Defamation Lawsuit Archive. This is something like 60,000 words – the size of an average paperback Christian book these days. That’s a lot of words, and maybe I’m overstating my sense of this lawsuit’s importance. But in this Archive I make my case, with observations, analysis, and commentary. And I encourage you to think critically for yourself and to find lessons herein for sharing your future …

~ Brad Sargent, February 2013

* * * * * * *

~ Production of This Archive; Copyright Notices ~

The case of Beaverton Grace Bible Church v. Smith is over. The decision phase concluded when the judge presiding in this case issued his decision to dismiss it. That was on July 23, 2012. The “denouement phase” concluded when the plaintiffs completed their payments of the defendants’ court costs and attorneys fees, which totaled over $60,000. Now is the documentation phase, so the resources and lessons of this case are captured for future generations.

The purpose of the BGBC Defamation Lawsuit Archive is to present a time capsule of factual information about the dates, documents, and decisions in Beaverton Grace Bible Church v. Smith, as well as curate reasoned analysis, invited commentary, and moderated public comments on this defamation lawsuit case.

The first versions of these documents and timelines were produced by Brad Sargent (known online as “brad/futuristguy”) for Julie Anne Smith’s BGBC Defamation Lawsuit Archive. He spent over 300 hours studying and writing about this lawsuit as it unfolded in 2012-2013. His research included:

Reading almost all of the posts and many of the comments on Julie Anne Smith’s BGBC Survivors BlogSpot/Blogger website.

Reading all 29 posts that were available as of mid-January 2013 in the O’Neal/BGBC Survivors dot org website, with related documents and comments, and viewing all videos.

Reading all six major court documents – totally nearly 110 pages of material – several times.

Reading major portions of another 100 pages of declarations, motions to strike, and related exhibits and appendices.

Reading at least 125 online posts about the lawsuit, along with many of the comments from members of the Church and community.

He completed this Archive project as a way to process what he was learning. He also hopes it provides constructive suggestions and cautions for those in the future who want to learn from the past.

Mr. Sargent is a research writer who specializes in cultural analysis, organizational development, and strategic foresight (studies of the future). He is not a lawyer, and has tried to express legal information in as accessible of language as possible. He has sought to note his own opinions on this case clearly and be fair-minded in quoting any material from other sources, by including the context. He has also tried to link quotations and paraphrases to the originating sources wherever possible, knowing that over time, the original version of those materials may end up edited or removed. Before being posted here, Archive materials were reviewed for accuracy and clarity, and for consistency within the framework of the defendants’ perspective.

* * * * * * *

~ How to Post Your Comments on This Archive … ~

As already mentioned, the court case of Beaverton Grace Bible Church v. Smith is over. This Archive is not a place to attempt retrying the lawsuit, or engage in character attacks on any of the parties involved – whether plaintiffs, defendants, or their families, friends, and fellow church members.

That said, we do welcome the following kinds of input from you about the Archives:

Opinions about the importance of this case. (Use the comment option on Archive page 06 Impact of the Case and Significance for the Future.)

Corrections of facts on dates of case-related events, quotations, or summaries of material that is publicly available. (Use the comment option on Archive page 07 Public Commentary on the Archive.)

Questions/comments about analysis and characterization of court documents or other public aspects of the case. (Use the comment option on Archive page 07 Public Commentary on the Archive.)

NOTE: The BGBC Defamation Lawsuit Archive is a large amount of material. Though the first draft was completed in mid-January 2013, it has taken a significant investment of time to review and update the various pages. The Archive will be posted page by page, starting in February 2013. Once the entire set of Archive pages has been posted, then the comment function on Archive pages 06 and 07 will be available and you are welcome to submit input on those pages as noted above.Thank you for your patience in the meantime. The comment function on all other Archive pages will remained closed.

* * * * * * *

~ Downloadable PDF of the Archive ~

A downloadable PDF of the contents of this Archive may be available at a later date. If so, the link will appear here and in blog post notices when it is available and/or is updated.

* * * * * * *

~ BGBC Defamation Lawsuit Archive ~ Table of Contents ~

Note: The following Table of Contents parallels the articles and sections found in the downloadable PDF of the entire Archive. In some cases, the versions on the PDF may differ slightly from the ones on this Archive, such as when a typed version must be substituted for oversized screenshots that would be unreadable if shrunk too much.